Nebraska Republican to draw blood from Democrat Senate

Lincoln
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Nebraska's Senate race was to be the re-coronation of former Democrat Sen. Bob Kerrey, at least in the minds of some Democrats. Kerrey was supposed to play a pivotal role in the Democrats’ fight to maintain control of the U.S. Senate.

However while his role might be pivotal, it’s more likely to pivot in the direction of Republicans, according to just about every poll in past months.

After Kerrey was quoted telling a reporter that the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center, Pentagon and a third American airliner loaded with civilians was actually a 30-year-old conspiracy, his political career has plummeted.

Today, Kerrey is on the threshold of a new low. The once prominent Democrat senator is about to be trounced by previously little-known state senator Deb Fischer.

Kerrey was lured out of a political abyss as president of The New School University in New York by national Democrats to defend the Nebraska Senate seat of retiring Democrat Ben Nelson, which once also belonged to Kerrey, according to a Seattle Times report.

However if polling and the spending of both national parties are any indication, Fischer has a comfortable lead and she is likely to deliver a net Senate seat for Republicans.

Nonetheless, despite the long odds of winning, Kerrey, a former governor, senator and one-time presidential candidate, isn't giving up. Instead, he has assumed the role of the underdog who may yet deliver a surprise while enlisting the praise of Hollywood stars like comedian Steve Martin.

"She's promised to be a reliable vote for the Republican caucus ... and I think it's likely that the problems that we have as a consequence of this hyper-partisanship will get greater," Kerrey said in a recent interview.

Meanwhile, Fischer’s campaign with help from groups like the Karl Rove-backed Crossroads GPS has effectively tarred Kerrey as a carpetbagger from New York sent over to save a do-nothing, budget-less Democrat-controlled Senate.

"Nebraskans will know that they've elected someone with honesty and integrity," says Fisher in one of her ads. "I will work hard for them. I've shown that as a state senator, I believe in traveling the state and listening to Nebraskans."